Lipstick containers (or cases) conventionally comprise an applicator element, sometimes known as a mechanism, comprising a support which bears a stick of lipstick, a tubular body (which has or does not have a circular cross-section) in which the support can be displaced axially as required, by relative movement of rotation between this tubular body and a base to which this tubular body is connected axially, such as to extend the stick or on the other hand to retract it in the tubular body, as well as a tubular storage element formed by a cap or lid which co-operates with the base and the tubular body in order to enclose and protect the stick when the user does not need it. This tubular body and this tubular element can have cross-sections which are or are not circular.
For stick product containers of this type, structures have already been proposed wherein the cap (i.e. the tubular element) contains a sleeve which is designed to receive the tubular body of the applicator element, this sleeve being mobile relative to the base of this top, between a configuration of maximum insertion, in which the applicator element, including its base, is at least approximately retracted in the top, and a configuration of minimum insertion, in which, although it is engaged solidly in this sleeve, this applicator element projects, in practice from its base, along a distance which is sufficient to allow it to be grasped by the fingers of a user.
Thus, documents WO-2005/079622 and WO-2006/120336 have proposed structures wherein the applicator element can be fully retracted into the cap (to an extent sufficient to prevent a user from being able to grasp this element sufficiently to extract it from the top), whereas a bistable element which is arranged in the cap makes it possible, after a movement of insertion from this retraction position, to give rise to the projection of this applicator element from the top, over a distance which is sufficient to allow it to be grasped by a user. The bistable device in the cap is formed mainly firstly by an axial track in the form of a loop, which is integral with the sleeve, in which a pin which is connected to the cap is designed to circulate, and secondly by a spring which tends to thrust the sleeve towards the exterior.
In addition, document WO-2009/101268 has proposed a structure wherein, for reasons of simplicity, reliability and appearance, the applicator element can in the same way be retracted or made to project not by means of a bistable device, but by means of a pin which is accessible from the exterior, and makes it possible to command movements between these configurations.
A problem consists in the fact that, when the movements between the retracted and projecting configurations make a bistable device intervene (see the first two aforementioned documents), this device is situated axially between the base of the cap and that of the sleeve, with the result that the sleeve has an axial dimension which is substantially smaller than that of the top, with the disadvantage that the volume which is available in the cap in order to receive the applicator element is substantially smaller than the global inner volume of this top.
In fact, according to FR-2 870 092 another structure is known, the cap of which comprises a sleeve with two positions which are determined by a bistable device. Part of the bistable device, i.e. a track in the form of a loop and the pin which is designed to circulate in it, is situated there between the lateral walls of the cap and the sleeve, which a priori reduces the axial dimension of this bistable device between the bases of the cap and the sleeve. However, firstly this structure comprises a spring which is interposed between these bases, which prevents optimum reduction of the axial dimension of the bistable device, but also, the structure proposed by this document does not permit easy movements of the sleeve between its stable configurations, since the pin which is designed to circulate in the track in the form of a loop (provided in the thickness of the wall of the sleeve) is integral with a ring which is designed to slide circumferentially in an annular groove provided in the thickness of the top; however, it will be appreciated that an insertion force on the applicator element tends to push the pin towards the base of the top, and therefore push the ring against one of the sides of the groove, thus giving rise to friction or even wedging which could impede the movements of the sleeve.